The Middlebury men's swimming and diving team commenced the four-day NESCAC Championship on Thursday in the 800-yard freestyle relay, securing a tie for eighth place with 52 points after the opening evening. Claiming the event for the eighth consecutive season was #21 Williams, amassing 90 points to top the leaderboard, while #20 Connecticut College and Tufts are tied for second at 76 points.

HIGHLIGHTS

• The Panther "A" team featured John Masiello, Rodin McKenna, Ryan Mauney and Luke McNamara. The group secured ninth place out of 22 teams, touching the wall with a clocking of 6:47.35. The effort secured 42 points for the navy and white.
• Middlebury's "B" quartet of Matthew Sonne, Keith Hartman, Owen Currie and Jason Chiappinelli stopped the clock at 6:54.99 to earn 10 points.

NOTES

• The league's championship event features four conference teams ranked in the latest College Swimming Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) Top 25 national poll. Joining Thursday's top three teams are #16 Amherst and #T24 Bates.

The Panthers are back in action on Friday with preliminaries starting at 10:00 a.m., followed by diving at 1:00 p.m. and the finals beginning at 6:00 p.m.